Webquest 101

Once you have selected a group of sites that fit your needs, take a look at them as a group.

Are there common themes or contrasts that your webquest could incorporate?

Do the various sites offer different opinions, approaches, or perspectives on the topic?

The strength of a webquest is its ability to combine resources to bring out these themes.

Figure out how to write your quest so that students move logically from one site to another. Ideally, you would like to have a single, obvious path from one site to the next. In reality, you may have to make suggestions to students on how they should view sites, depending on their progress through the quest. Remember, though, that your students will be relying on you to provide the connections that hold your quest together. The old speakers’ adage: "Tell ‘em what they’re gonna see; tell ‘em what they’re seeing; tell ‘em what they saw," also applies to webquests.

You will undoubtedly find some sites that offer great resources, but they just don’t fit into your webquest plan. Save these anyway, because you’ll likely find a use for them later. The easiest way to do this is by bookmarking them in your browser. Or use one of the sites listed below.

For both the sites shared within the webquest and those that you want to include (bookmark) as additional possible sites, consider using one of these resources available at TeachersFirst to easily consolidate and share the sites.

Pearltrees allows you to store, share, and collaborate resources. This site is simple to use. Logistically you could even use Pearltrees to CREATE your entire webquest.

Webklipper offers a different twist. Not only can you save your favorite sites to share, but you can also highlight only the portions of the sites that are relevant to your quest. And finally, you can share ALL of your highlighted portions with one easy URL.

Skloog may be more than what you need for your webquest, but it certainly is a visually appealing site. This is a visual bookmarking site (great for young students and/or limited readers). You have the ability to make shortcuts with logos.